Hogwarts A Love Story
by rockandrosie
Summary: Between loss, war, and responsibilities, Lily found love.
1. in the beginning

**I had this story up before, but I've changed it a lot and now I'm republishing it. This story is dedicated to my very beautiful friend, Sasha.**

* * *

It was September 1st again, which meant time to depart from her home in the muggle world. Lily loved Hogwarts, but as of late, the muggle born witches, like herself, were receiving slander and hate from some of the more "elite" members of the wizarding world. All Lily could think of was how racist the entire situation was. History was repeating itself, as it always does. She felt helpless at times, but Lily was angry at herself for even feeling that way. She wasn't helpless, not at all. She was entrusted with responsibility and she had to act with it.

Instead of arriving at 9 and ¾ with her sister, Lily had apparated to Kings Cross Station. Her mother had passed on towards the end of her 6th year. Lily had left Hogwarts several weeks early to be with her mother after she had gotten the news of the stroke. With the internal bleeding, Rose didn't make it, marking Lily as an orphan. One hellish summer with her sister was enough incentive to get out of her, once happy, childhood home first chance she got.

The redhead was greeted by her friend, Maria, only seconds after she had arrived. "Lils!" the excited Ravenclaw exclaimed. "We all missed you at the end of year feast. How's your mom?" Lily's small but strained smile said what she didn't want to. Her friend nodded understandingly and wrapped an arm around Lily's shoulder. "How are you coping?"

"I'm perfectly fine. I had the summer to grieve and now I'm ready to have a great last year!"

"Fantastic! Sounds good to me." Maria beamed at Lily as the pair lugged their oversized trunks on the train, followed by their pet's cages. Maria had an owl named Fluffs, who the both of them used to send their mail. Lily's cat, Matilda, was not as useful.

Several minutes later, the pair were seated in a compartment that was empty at the time. Matilda was snoozing out of her cage on the floor between Maria and Lily. "I'm going to have to leave you for a bit, prefect meeting, I'm sure Katie and Lucy will find their way here soon enough. Why do you prefer us Gryffindors anyway?" Lily asked with a teasing smile.

"You know Ravenclaws, they all have giant egos and massive superiority complexes. Gryffindors are humble and chivalrous. You can't blame me for wanting their company"

"Of course. How could I? Not all of us are humble, you know... God knows plenty of us have terrible manners."

Maria smirked at what Lily was implying. She knew the redhead was speaking of a specific group of Gryffindors with her not so kind words.

* * *

After spending too long chatting with Maria, Lily was the last to arrive at the first prefect meeting of the year. She was a bit embarrassed, but she quickly became uneasy. James Potter was leaning back against a wall at the end of the room. She knew he was going to be head boy, Dumbledore had given her advanced notice, but she wasn't pleased about it. He was never even a prefect. The other prefects had clearly been waiting for their head girl to arrive, everyone seemed put off by James' unlikely presence. In her mind, she reminded herself of her promise to herself and her promise to her mother. Be loving.

Lily was seated at the side of her mother's hospital bed. The stroke had left her paralyzed, but she was still able to speak with half of her mouth. The only problem was Rose sometimes mixed words up. At this point, everyone knew she wasn't going to make it, so Lily and Petunia had put aside their differences and spent every last minute with their mother.

In a moment of clarity, Rose said to Lily, "My hope for you, girls, is that you will achieve something big. I know you can do it. I hope you'll be happy and cared for. And, I hope, more than anything else, that you will choose love."

Confused, Lily nodded to her mom. "Of course, mother. I promise" After this, Rose had drifted back to sleep due to her sedatives.

"Let's get started." Lily announced once she had seated herself. All the prefects who had been lounging around seated themselves around the table in the heads compartment as well. James silently took a seat next to Lily. For once, he was okay with not being in control. He didn't know how these meetings worked, after all. Lily, however, had been planning since she got her letter.

"I have here a 2 slips of paper, one of them is the Slytherin password and one is the Gryffindor password. To the other houses, you of course know how to get into your dorms." Lily handed her house's password to James and the Slytherin one to a 7th year prefect.

"I've set up a schedule for rounds. Due to conflict between houses, I haven't selected any special pairs. You'll all be performing rounds duties with your counterpart. For example, John", Lily addressed Hufflepuffs 6th year prefect, "You'll be patrolling with Alice." the other 6th year prefect for Hufflepuff. Lily had the schedule memorized so she told each group their days and times for rounds. They were responsible for remembering. "And James." Lily finished, struggling to be civil, "We'll be patrolling Mondays and Saturdays from midnight to 5am. Everyone got that."

Lily went on to explain the responsibilities that came along with giving and taking points and assigning detentions. "If I find any of you abusing this power, you'll be reporting directly to the headmaster." With those words she gave the password to the for the prefects bathroom and dismissed the meeting.

Everyone started to file out, but James cornered the object of his affections. He had been silent the entire meeting, so Lily had sort of forgotten that he was there. "I love it when you get all controlling like that.", he teased.

"Not now, Potter." she replied briefly, "I want to get back to my friends. And please, I want to have a good year."

"What?" he asked feigning innocence, "I was just going to say you'll make a great head girl, very controlling. I like it." he smirked again.

Not seeing any malice in his comment, she quickly said, "Thank you. And if you stay quiet and listen to me you'll make a great head boy."

James grinned. "Can do, Miss"

Although she was pleased he seemed okay with the idea of her being in charge, Lily was still wary of him. "I'm not going to stand around and let you hex first years just for the fun of it, you know. I don't care if you're head boy, I'll give you detention. Hell, I'll even dock house points. I know it's my house but..."

"Yeah, yeah okay Evans I get the picture." he retorted.

"Alright." she decided and with that she left. After taking a few steps she realized James was still trailing behind her. "Yes?" she asked. Maybe a bit rudely.

"Let's sit together," he stated

"I'd rather not. I'm sitting with my friends." she answered.

"Well then let's sit with your friends."

"No, James, you go sit with your little gang."

"My gang can sit with your gang. We can form an alliance." Despite the fact that he was dead set on irritating her, she couldn't stop the amused smile that flashed across her face.

"I don't think my gang and your gang could agree on the same terms. It would be madness." Lily was starting to get annoyed.

"I think we could figure something out."

"No." she answered sharply, "We really couldn't."

Lily entered the room she had previously been sitting, James still behind her, only to be brushed aside by an enthusiastic Sirius. "How was your first day in power, mate?"

"Thrilling," James replied

At the same time, Lily turned to Lucy. "Why are the Marauders in our compartment?"

Lucy laughed at the look on Lily's face. "I invited them in! Thought they'd make for some good entertainment." Lily was not pleased. "Look.", Reagan said pointing to Remus. Or actually pointing to Remus' lap. "Matilda like him." Sure enough, the orange tabby was sleeping in Remus' lap.

"Did everyone betray me?" she asked, partially joking, partially upset. She looked at Matilda and became enraged. "Give me my cat!", she exclaimed snatching the small tabby away from Remus. She cradled Matilda in her arms and stated, "He's the only one who loves me, don't you sweetie."

Everyone was laughing and completely overlooking or not seeing that Lily was upset. When the laughter died down, Katie asked, "How's was your summer?"

This pushed Lily to her limit, "Petunia was lovely as ever." she snapped. Mary looked put off but Lily continued, "She's taken to inviting her walrus of a boyfriend over. He's just fascinating company, really. Goes on and on about his money and his car and his boring job. I had a great summer, can't you imagine? Just peachy." Katie looked like she was about to cry. She was a great friend, but much too sensitive.

"Lils. Don't worry about the horse. You've got the entire year to enjoy. Just imagine, you never have to see her again."

"No, no, no it's not that. Of course I want to see her again. I'm just complaining, that's all."

A train ride with the Marauders would never go smoothly. In this situation, however, they were not to blame for any drama. Uncharacteristically, they had sat silently and watched the scene unfold.

"Lils, she treats you terribly. Why do you even put up with her?" Maria asked.

"You should distance yourself from poisonous relationships," Lucy added at the same time.

"You deserve to be happy, Lily. Really, you better stay away from her." Katie chimed in afterwards.

The entire situation was becoming too overwhelming for Lily. "Stop it! All of you stop it! You don't understand."

"What is there to understand? She's pure evil. Merlin, Lils, sometimes you're really hard to be friends with. You need to think of yourself more highly. And the mood swings have got to stop. Seriously, you're a bit of a drama queen..." Katie was not getting the whole compassion thing.

It was all too much, Lily stood up and left the train compartment without a word.

When the door slammed closed behind the upset redhead, Katie glanced around the room, "See what I mean?"

"Mary," Maria started, "maybe a better approach would have been letting the topic go. Lily clearly didn't want to talk about it.

The Marauders had stayed frighteningly quiet throughout the entire argument. They had learned a bit more about Lily than they had intended. Remus looked concerned while Sirius seemed to be agreeing with Mary on the topic. Peter looked scared by the whole ordeal.

"I'll go talk to her." James stated while standing up.

"Wait, no. That''s not a good idea. She needs to cool off." Lucy told him.

Ignoring her, James walked out of the room.

* * *

Lily was leaning against a wall outside of the compartment she had recently been seated in. Her eyes were red, but she was refusing to cry. James approached her quietly and leaned against the wall, imitating her position. He stayed silent, and the pair stood there for several minutes.

"So who's Petunia?" James questioned.

Lily stayed silent for a minute, deciding if she should answer before saying, "My sister."

"What's so bad about Petunia? Your friends seem to hate her."

"We don't get along. We used to be the best of friends until I met Severus. He told me I was a witch and at that point we started growing apart. I suppose Tuney was jealous."

"Well why are you so dead set of defending her if you don't even have a good relationship?"

"You guys don't understand..." Lily repeated

"Well then tell me. Help me understand. I'm smarter than I look, you know." Lily smiled. The way he was implying that he was too good looking to be smart was a bit humorous.

"It's just... she's the only family I've got left. That means something to me. I'm not going to give up on her. She's a jerk, yes. But I love that jerk. Sometimes the people we love are bad to us."

"Ah." James said simply.

"Well come on, then." Lily teased poking James' side.

He jumped at the touch and glared at her, "Come on, what?"

"You need to tell me something personal now. You give some and you get some... that's how life works."

James looked at her oddly, "What do you want to know?" he questioned.

"Oh, I don't know... tell me about your family, I guess."

"Uhhh... my parents are elderly, Sirius and I think they don't have much time left. They keep getting sick. Just little things, but it's getting worse and worse. I thought about skipping my 7th year to take care of them but they talked me out of it."

"Wow, that's really selfless of you," Lily said, surprised.

"No it's not..." James replied.

"How so?"

"I wouldn't have done it out of the goodness of my heart, it would have been selfishly motivated. Ergo, not selfless." For some reason James was refusing the compliment.

"Well say what you will, I think that shows much honor on your part. You're a true Gryffindor, you know." Lily decided, "When you're not too busy obsessing about how perfect you are..." she added as an afterthought.

James laughed briefly. "Let's go back inside the compartment." he told her.

"No," she decided, "I don't want to face them. Let's go to the heads compartment. No one's allowed there without our permission."

"Yeah, that actually sounds good."

* * *

The heads compartment was in the very back of the train, causing Lily and James to be the last to get off. They weren't exactly in a rush either, which contributed to the length of time it took them to exit the train. When they climbed out, Sirius was standing right by the door waiting for them even though most of the students were already on their way to the castle.

"And where in the world were you?", he questioned angrily, "We were really worried."

Before James could answer Lily said, "We were in the heads compartment, where else? What did you think? Dementors abducted us?"

"No biting, Lily." James stated in a completely serious tone of voice.

"Fine. Your best friend's an idiot though."

"Um, excuse me, genius, but we were all worried. I'm no more an idiot than Maria! Who is, by the way, a Ravenclaw." Sirius was not pleased about being called an idiot.

"No, she's right, mate, you are an idiot."

"Oh, I see how this is. A bird smiled at you so now you're going to bully me."

Lily patted his head, which he, oddly enough, seemed to not mind, before saying, "Don't worry, the best of us are. It's part of human nature. But what did you think happened to us? Because, honestly, where else would we have been?"

"We thought you had been kidnapped or something. And I didn't think anything dirty, don't listen to what the other may say. Because when two people of the opposite sex disappear at the same time, nothing ungodly comes to mind."

"Oh God, Black, I hope you burn in hell." Lily didn't seem as upset as her comment was rash.

"Happily, as you'll be right there with me"

"Uh, you guys. We better get in a carriage before they're all gone." James stated.

* * *

The carriage ride was loud and filled with argument between Sirius and Lily. It wasn't exactly that the argument was malicious, but it could be rather annoying. James had stayed silent the entire ride, looking back and forth between Lily and Sirius. On one hand, Lily was sitting next to him and not directing her aggressions at himself. She was even acting somewhat friendly. And she had opened up to him. But, on the other hand he couldn't tell if she clashed with Sirius or if they were so compatible that it was scary. Because really, it could go either way from the way things were looking.

"Stop it!" he exclaimed, "You two are acting like children and I'm not your papa duck. What is so bad about being normal and civil?"

"Why would we do that? Sounds boring." Sirius replied

"No, he's right. You've tired me out, Black. I'm going to sleep so well tonight."

"Should I be expecting you in our dorm?" Sirius teased. And the fighting started again.

When they arrived at the castle, James forced the pair apart. "Go off and sit with your friends, Lily. Sirius needs to calm down and your presence isn't exactly helping." James was trying to stay calm and civil, he was mad for the girl after all, but his patience was being tested.

"Okay. I'll see ya."

As the redhead returned to her original group of companions, James turned to Sirius. "Is this fun to you?" he snapped.

"Actually, since you asked, yeah it is pretty fun. Lily's great, I've got to get myself one of those." Sirius seemed to be ignoring James' frustration.

James let out a big sigh. "One of what?"

"Oh, I don't know. I think there's only one of her, though. And you've already staked your claim." James punched Sirius' arm as hard as he could. "Sorry, sorry. Merlin, you're touchy." Sirius was calming down, and starting to notice James' anger. "Prongsie, I'm sorry. I'll be nice. I mean, I'll try to be nice."

Before his best friend's apology was even finished, James completely forgave Sirius. He felt stupid for being mad in the first place. "Yeah, okay." he said, not fully expressing his forgiveness. Sirius understood though and the two walked the short distance to the Gryffindor table.

* * *

The Marauders were comparing their schedules. Since they were all taking NEWT classes, they're timetables were almost identical. Remus was taking a few more classes than James, and Sirius as well as Peter were taking less than both of them.

They all had one class in common, DADA. "Professor Black?" James questioned. "You know who this is Pads?"

"As if, mate. I've been disowned. I haven't got a clue why Dumbledore would hire a death eater." Sirius stated bitterly

"Unless he's been disowned too... you never know. No one should be judged by their lineage. That's the whole reason for this war, remember.", Remus added

"That's true, but Mooney you've got to give me some credit. I had to grow up with these people. I've earned the right to be biased about them." Sirius reminded him.

"Yes, of course you have."

"It doesn't say his first name. Could be anyone. Should we be worried?" Peter questioned

"Nah," James announced cockily, "we're Gryffindors. Let's leave the worrying to the other houses."

* * *

**We'll just have to continue this, won't we c:**

**comments, favorites, follows etc make me quite happy.**


	2. short and sweet

Maria and Lily had seated themselves leaning against the arm of an old sofa, legs pressed against each others. Lily was enjoying the familiar body heat her best friend was giving off. "So I'm patrolling with Potter tonight" Lily stated, loud enough to break the comfortable silence between the girls, but too quiet to be overheard.

"Oh joy. How are you feeling about that?" Maria replied, matching Lily's tone.

"I'm not sure. I kind of wanted a peaceful first day. But, on the other hand, when it's too peaceful my mind wanders." Lily took Maria's hand in her own, interlacing their fingers silently.

"How do you mean." Maria asked, giving Lily's hand a comforting squeeze.

"I start getting emotional. I'm a bit of a whirlwind right now. Sorry about that, actually."

"Oh, Lils. You have every right to be a whirlwind. Be a tornado, for all I care. I know you've had a traumatic summer."

"Thank you, Maria." Lily said. "How shall I deal with tonight?"

"Oh, darling, I don't know. I do know how we shall deal with right now, though."

"Oh do you?" Lily smiled at the turn their conversation was going. "And how are we doing that?"

"You, my dear, are going to sit right there. I won't be more than a minute." Maria stood up, sliding her hand out of Lily's, before swiftly walking up to the boys dormitory.

Lily was genuinely concerned about what she was doing in there, but tried not to focus on it. Instead she stared at her pale, freckled hand. Not too long after, she felt Maria slide right down beside herself. "What did you go off to do?" Lily joked quietly.

"I put in an order for reinforcements." Maria answered mysteriously.

"Oh dear." Lily sighed.

"Don't worry, love." Maria told her, gripping her hand once again. "You'll have a fantastic day, I'm making sure of it."

"Oh, gosh Maria, I'm not having a bad day..."

"Yep. Because I'm not letting you have one."

After a pause in the conversation, Lily said "You're so sweet. Thank you, really."

"This just means you owe me when I'm sad." Maria's replied, squeezing Lily's hand.

"You know I would do it either way." Lily answered with meaning.

"Yeah, I would do it for you either way, as well. That's what I'm here for."

"You're perfect, Maria, don't ever change." Lily stated.

"Oh, I know." She teased.

When James approached the pair, Lily felt a wave of dread wash over her. She had just been having a moment with her favorite person in the world. "Oh no." She whispered to Maria.

"No, it's okay." She whispered back. Lily glanced at Maria skeptically, before turning to James.

"Hello," he spoke before Lily had the chance.

The red haired witch had to remind herself that the two of them had made friendly conversation for hours the previous day. "Hi," she replied lamely.

"I brought something for you." He announced.

"Uh... is it something I actually want?" She questioned.

"Yes. You definitely want this."

"Okay... are you planning on giving it to me?" James handed her a thin cardboard box. She stared at it for a moment before lifting the lid. "You brought me cake?" She asked, surprised.

"Yep. Chocolate cake. Your friend here asked me to find some for you."

"Wow, thank you. That's actually really thoughtful." She looked at it, "Wait did you spike this with a love potion or something?"

"No, of course not. You know I've got more tact than that." James answered lightly.

"Do I?"

"You do now. Besides your friends would find you an antidote and then I'd be a dead man."

Lily smiled, "That's true. Well, Potter, did you bring me something to eat with?"

"Ugh. I forgot. Hey, is there something holding your hair up"

Lily's fingers rose to the bun in her hair. "Yeah a few pins. Why?"

"Give them to me?" James stated.

"What?"

"Give them to me, I'll transfigure them into a fork."

"Sure..." she muttered, pulling three bobby pins out of her hair, letting her it tumble down, over her shoulders. "Here." He stared at for a second before she repeated, "Here. Bobby Pins."

"Right", he answered, taking them. He laid them on the couch and quickly did a nonverbal spell. "Here you are. I'll see you tonight." He said, handing her the newly transfigured fork before walking away.

Maria started giggling as soon as he was out of their hearing range. Lily smacked her arm. "What are you laughing at?"

"He's thinks you're gorgeous." She said, giggling again.

"Excuse me?" Lily laughed briefly in disbelief.

"Oh Lily, dear, he started drooling when you put your hair down." She answered, patting Lily's shoulder.

"Okay, Maria, whatever you say." Lily replied, before digging into her newly acquired cake.

* * *

**Here you are. A bit of fluff to start of your weekend. Yes I know it's a filler and I'm not sorry.**


	3. how nice am I?

**Hello my friends. Here we have chapter 3, it's early because I love you**

* * *

It wasn't until Tuesday morning that the Marauders thought about Professor Black. They had double NEWTS DADA with Ravenclaw right after breakfast. They would also be having double NEWTS on Thursdays. James had to admit to himself he was a tad bit nervous, but he would never tell anyone. Apart from Sirius he had only ever heard bad things about the Black family line. But he had a rule. Always be brave, especially when you're scared.

When the 7th years entered their new classroom, they were greeted by a multitude of artifacts. He spotted what looked like a Basilisk fang on a shelf full of ancient books. And something that definitely couldn't be the Sword of Gryffindor hanging on his wall. All the Gryffindors seemed to be staring at it before a deep voice announced, "It's a replica. Made by a goblin friend of mine. He thought it would look nice hanging on my wall." Everyone turned their attention to the front of the room. Professor Black was intimidating with sleek black hair and pale blue eyes. "I'm Professor Black, nice to meet you. Now if you may take your seats" The proud professor seemed to have a voice that everyone just listened to. True to this, chairs could be heard scraping against the ground as they were pulled out. Professor Black had a hypnotic presence, no one could take their eyes off him.

After several moments of silence, a voice James sort of recognized asked out loud, "Are you a death eater?" Her words echoed across the large room and their teacher smiled. Most everyone looked appalled and whispers could be heard. "Oh shut up," she said, "everyone was thinking it."

"Let's not talk about me. My life story isn't important. I'm here to teach you. The war upon us is terrifying and anyone who says they aren't scared is lying. I've made it my job to teach you lot to defend yourself." The professor's gaze shifted from his students to the back wall of the vast classroom. "I've seen some terrible thing. And I've seen people do things that you wouldn't believe. But, I've also seen how good people can be. How pure and true they can be and how much love is really in the world. Have hope."

"Now first off, let's review basic defensive spells, ones you should have learned by now. Let's start with the simplest. What is the disarming spell? Go on then, just call it out." After everyone chimed 'expelliarmus', he nodded, "Okay that was simple enough. What about the stunning spell..."

For quite awhile, Professor Black had his new students review a variety of spells used in dueling. By the time he was satisfied, he said, "Okay, you lot. No point rattling off names of spells. That won't do you any good in a duel. Time for practicals. Grab an opponent and get started.

James, of course, chose to work with his best friend. "You're going down, just you wait, Sirius Black."

"Oh, you wish Potter." Sirius shot back, before yelling, "Stupify!" and waving his wand with a flick of his wrist.

James quickly cried ennervate to counter the spell.

After allowing the student to duel for several minutes, Professor Black spoke up, "Now, everybody, wands down." His voice was so hypnotic that everyone did so immediately. "Now I'm sure you may have noticed the disadvantage to using verbal spells in a duel. Anyone?"

"They're easy to counter." a Ravenclaw supplied.

"Right you are. Let me tell you something, though, if you haven't mastered nonverbal spells, do not try to use them in a duel. My ultimate goal for you all this year is to perfect your dueling skills, nonverbal spells included. And, on my last note, it's very important that all the 7th years take charms very seriously. They may seem useless, but someday a charm will save your life. "Now go on, get lost. I'm ending class early."

* * *

Lily and Maria left their first DADA class hand in hand. The two of them had signed up for all the same classes, in hope of being together as much as possible. "So, Lily," Maria started, "You never did tell me how those rounds went on Saturday." Lily glanced at her and smiled. It was obvious, to Maria at least, that Lily wasn't planning on sharing. "Oh, c'mon. I want to know what happened." Maria whined. With another smile, the redhead shook her head at her best friend.

Before Maria could nudge at the topic again, James approached the pair. He, however, was alone. No Marauders in sight. "Hey!" he greeted, out of breath.

"Hello." Lily replied.

"So, what did you think of Professor Black?" he asked, falling into step with the pair.

"He seems bright. I think he'll be good." Lily answered. "What did you think of him, Maria?"

"Oh, darling, you know me. He's perfectly fine in my books." Maria shared a look with Lily and the pair smiled at each other.

"What's funny?" James asked.

"Oh, nothing." Lily answered with a wave of her free hand. "Maria really appreciated him, is all."

James didn't even bother questioning that statement, knowing he wouldn't exactly like the answer. "Well. I'll catch you later, Evans." James said with a smile.

"Looking forward to it," she replied.

When James left the girls to themselves, Maria spoke up, "Okay, I don't know what happened between you two but it must have been monumental."

"Yeah…" Lily sighed, "Yeah it was good.

"Fine, Lils, leave me wondering."

"Oh, it's not that, Maria. I'm not even sure what happened. All I know is he said the right things at the right times. I need to think about it, is all."

"Okay, but if you do want to talk about it, I'm always here for you."

"Thank you, love."

"Now, come on, you, it's time to eat."

"Oh, God, yes I'm starving." Lily cried.

* * *

Even though she had forced herself to go to sleep at 7 that night so she would at least have gotten some sleep for the next day, she was still dead on her feet when it was time for rounds. While Lily was still half asleep, James had enough energy for the both of them. "Hello, miss. It's that time of week again…" All he got in return was a yawn, covered by the back of a pale hand. "You're excitement is contagious." he said, mostly to himself. She nodded at that and motioned for them to leave the common room.

After several minutes of walking, Lily was a bit more awake. "You never did tell me what you thought of Professor Black…" she mumbled.

"What did I think of him?" James asked to himself, "I thought he sounded too serious, it's a bit heavy."

"Well, you do know he's seen the war first hand. He's probably fought loads of death eaters. Dumbledore wouldn't hire someone who's got no experience."

"Yes, you're right Lily. He's trying to tell us the war is real and dangerous. It's just a heavy topic. At least admit that to me."

"Very heavy," she agreed. "Let's just focus on patrolling right now, no need to stress."

"Right you are, miss. Why do we have to do this? Do people even wander the castle at night." James complained

"Oh, stuff it Potter. Everyone knows that you 'wander the castle' when you're not supposed to." Lily said, shoving him lightly.

"Well, yeah. But I never get caught."

"How do you manage that then?" Lily asked.

"I'm come prepared, that's how."

"Sure you do." Lily joked back. On a much more serious note, she said, "James, I haven't thanked you yet for Saturday."

"No need. I was just doing what any decent person would do."

"No. No you weren't. Most people would have let it go or simply not cared. You're a better man than I thought, James Potter."

"You're gonna make me blush." he teased.

"Oh, shut up and accept the compliment, you prat."

"Thank you, Miss."

* * *

Come 5am, Lily and James were arriving back at their common room. The time had passed quickly enough, with the pair of them chatting. James walked Lily to the stairwell to the girls dormitories before saying, "Meet me here at midnight on Friday."

Lily looked at him oddly, "Why would I do that?"

"Because we're going to go on an adventure. Don't ask where, it's a surprise."

"I'll think about it. See you in class."

"Til the next time, Lily Evans."

* * *

**If you review, favorite, follow, etc. I'll be very very happy. **


	4. a bit of a filler again

**this is Friday's update, I'm just posting it early (because I'm so nice, y'know?) enjoy!**

* * *

"And where have you been? I thought we were meeting here at 4:30!" A somewhat angry redhead snapped at her best friend.

"I'm sorry, Lils, I was trying to buy some butterbeer off Sirius Black, that little prick was trying to sell it to me for a galleon. Can you believe that?"

"That's unethical. Did you manage to get some?"

Maria smiled at how quickly Lily's mood had changed, "You, my dear, underestimate me. By the time I was through with him he gave it to me, free of charge."

Lily and Maria went from giggling to laughing hysterically before they were kicked out of the library. "How did you manage that one?" Lily asked, popping the lid off her bottle of butterbeer, which was free, apparently. Instead of doing homework in the library like they had planned, they were going to have to do it in Lily's dorm.

"Oh, honey, you don't want to know." The raven haired girl said with a grin.

"You must've given him a real bad scolding."

* * *

Lily wanted to pull her hair out. She was only taking 4 classes, but there were just so much writing. Damn NEWTS. Before she could get any more stressed, Maria announced that it was "break time"

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened on Monday? Or Tuesday actually." Maria asked from her spot on Lily's bed.

"Well," Lily started, laying down next to her, "I may as well."

* * *

"So, Lily, how does this work?" James asked, when the pair of them met in the common room at 11:50.

"Simple, really. We wander around the castle and make sure everyone is where they're supposed to be." Lily answered with authority.

"And where's that?" James asked.

Lily stared at him for several moments. "In bed. Where else?"

"Right-o. Lead the way, miss."

"Just warning you, this isn't fun at all. It's most boring thing we have the pleasure of doing."

"I'm in your company, Lils. We could be watching paint dry and I'd have the time of my life." He said, smoothly.

Sighing, Lily replied, "Sure. If you say so."

"I do." Lily was really not enjoying that trademark Potter smirk.

They didn't speak much for the first two hours, but by 2:30 in the morning, they were both bored. "Lily…" he started. She nodded for him to continue. "Tell me something."

When it became obvious he wasn't going to finish that thought, she asked, "Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Anything."

"Well, I'm too tired to think of anything."

"I told you about my parents, tell me about yours." James suggested.

"They're dead." Lily stated simply. Her voice not betraying any underlying emotion.

"Sorry. I didn't know..." He tried to start.

Lily, however, cut him off. "Why would you?" She looked at him, "Oh, Potter, don't even start. It's fine. I'm done grieving." James stopped walking and stared at her. Following his lead, she stopped too. "What?" She questioned.

"Lily. Don't get me wrong, you're amazing. But that is complete shit." James was already in a defensive stance, waiting for Lily to lash out at him, but instead she turned to face him completely.

"Excuse me?" She snapped. They were occupying a corridor with tall windows, but no one around to hear a sound. "What gives you the right to spew shit like that at me."

He had angered her, as he knew he would, but he stuck to his point, refusing to return her rage. "Lily. Stop and think about what you're saying. You don't have to pretend you're okay. You don't owe that to anyone."

"I don't want people worrying about me." She told him. "It's an awful feeling."

"God, you can be thick sometimes. Think about it. If Maria was sad, would you want her to pretend to be okay for your sake?" James questioned.

Lily just stared blankly at him for a moment before saying, "No, of course not."

"Exactly. That is exactly what I'm trying to tell you. Grieve them for as long as you need to."

James began walking again, so Lily followed him silently. After over an hour more of complete silence, Lily said, "My mom and dad both had brown hair, but, for some reason, I got this ridiculous red hair. And both my parents had blue eyes, It's weird, really, I don't look anything like them..."

James stayed silent as she spent the last hour and a half of their rounds telling him anything and everything she could think of about her parents. By the time they reached the portrait hiding the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, James felt as if he knew them more than he knew her. "You're parents," James started, speaking for the first time in 2 hours, "Were wonderful people. Which is, obviously, why you're so great. I'll see you soon, Lily Evans."

* * *

Maria was smiling so big that Lily thought her cheeks would break. "Wow. I'm impressed with him. He actually got through to you instead of being a prat."

"It felt amazing to just talk about them. I've been avoiding the topic for so long."

"I'll bet, Lils. I'm proud of you. And he wasn't rude or arrogant? He didn't ask you out?" Maria enquired with excitement.

"Yes… why?" Lily answered

"Oh, he really fancies you, is all." Maria stated

"And why would you say that?"

"Oh, nothing. Just a promise he made to me..."

"If you're just going to be enigmatic you can stop talking now." Lily told her with a smack to Maria's arm.

"Darling, he'll tell you soon enough." Maria said, lightly smacking Lily back.

"Oh, yeah, and he asked me to meet him at midnight on Friday. I dunno, Maria, should I do it?"

The raven haired girl smiled at Lily and grasped her hand. "Lils, it's up to you. In my professional opinion, I think you should give it a shot."

"Hmmmm. Maybe I will." the red haired Gryffindor squeezed her friends hand, who in turn squeezed it back.

"Who knows, he may surprise you with something good."

"Yeah. Maybe." Lily closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "You know what, I'm going to go and see what he has planned. Wish me luck, okay?"

"Good luck, love. Back to work?"

Lily groaned loudly, "Fine! I won't enjoy it though.

* * *

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